Choosing your mindset is the most crucial part of the journey, and it frames every step you take along the path. You have to be consciously aware of your mindset. You must be aware of how to improve your mindset because your mind, which is your subconscious thoughts, your conscious thoughts, and the words you speak to yourself will set you up for success.

 

I want to focus on the importance of redefining your perspective and understanding of “Failure,” “Fear,” “Money,” and “Learning”.

Today, I want to touch on Fear of Failure, of others and of leaving security.

 

For most every other animal on the planet, life ends with a terrifying chase that leads to a bloody demise. Fear for those animals is almost always traumatic fear. For people, fear is a natural human reaction to when we feel danger. But we don’t see people running from the bus stop being chased by a tiger much at all, if ever.

Instead, the fear we normally feel is much less than the traumatic “I am going to die!” instinct faced in the wild. It is more a fear of what is unpredictable, insecure, or outside expectations.

These fears are definitely more mundane, but they can be no less tragic.

 

There are many studies that claim a high percentage of people are not happy with their current life situation, be it personal, financial, career, etc. Scroll through your Facebook newsfeed and notice that, at the end of summer, teachers, school administrators and students post memes by the hundreds reflecting that they do not want to get back to work.

9 to 5 employees are sad about it being Monday and then so excited for it to be Friday.

Yet most people do not attempt to make a change and the vicious cycle just continues for years and years.

 

Why do most people fail to make the necessary change?

They fear failure; They fear what others, especially those close to them, would say. They fear leaving a “guaranteed” paycheque every two weeks and pensions. The reason why I have quotations around guaranteed is that the paycheques and pensions jobs are really just a false sense of security.

 

“Yeah, but failing sucks! I lost money, time and esteem!” you might say.

We are programmed to think and feel that failure is bad. It may be unpleasant, but failure is a key step to success.

Steve Jobs got fired, which if isolated by itself, may seem like a bad thing. But he got rehired, and he learned from his mistakes.

Reprogram your mind and think of failure has a learning experience. Deprogram the idea that failure is bad.  Instead, the more you learn from your mistakes, the closer you will get to success. 

The key is to analyze your failed experience, take away the important lessons and implement those lessons moving forward in your business and life.

This is a crucial step and you must understand this consciously and subconsciously. This perspective of failure will be an essential factor in growing as a person and working through the many obstacles and challenges of both life and business.

In other words, don’t fear mistakes; learn from them.

 

Have you ever had someone tell you how to raise your kids? Tell you what major you should have chosen in University?

Michael Jordan, now considered the greatest basketball player of all-time, was cut from his high school basketball team!

How did he respond? – He came back even better!

Everyone will have supporters, rivals, detractors and will encounter many others who are indifferent regarding one’s own journey to grow as a person and to fulfil one’s purpose.

As long as you are clear about your purpose, specific about your goals, other people’s free, uninformed opinions and “advice” is irrelevant and not worth your attention. It is certainly not something to be afraid of.

Instead, and this is key, surround yourself with people who are living the life you are striving to build. Get to know them, their story, learn from them. When you are surrounded by positive, solution-oriented, purpose-driven, open-minded, loving, and non-complacent people, you will drown out your fear of what the “others” will say.

In other words, don’t fear what others say, but be deliberate about what opinions you absorb.